How to Achieve Anything

how much confidence have you lost due to goals that you have not achieved I understand how frustrating it is to set a goal and then miss it year after year after year I get it because I've been there it took me 5 years of failing before I actually lost 100 lb it took me 2 and 1 half years of barely making rent before I actually made it in business it was not until I realized that I was focusing on the wrong things and I was getting the wrong outcomes I want this to be the last

video you ever watch on how to reach your goals so I will teach you my process in only two steps so you can actually achieve anything you want this year the first step is focus on inputs over outcomes so let's define terms inputs are the actions behaviors and processes within your control that contribute to a greater goal an example of this is going to be exercising regularly eating healthy meals studying for a number of hours those are all inputs they're all actions that you take that are within your control now what are outputs outputs are

the results or outcomes that occur as a consequence of your inputs but are often influenced by other things outside of your control how much weight you lose did you hit a sales quota if you pass an exam those are all outputs there are things that we might want but we don't have total control of them happening there was a point early in my career when I was completely fixated on outputs I would set these huge goals whether it was like hitting a certain sales quota crushing a fitness Milestone and I thought that if I worked

hard enough and I set my goals really high I would eventually get there because that's what we're told dream really big grind until you make it you just need a big Vision that you stare at on your wall every day and you're going to get there but it was not working the way I thought it would I would get to the end of the month and if I hadn't hit those targets I felt like ID failed and the worst part about it was that if I didn't hit my goals I couldn't pay rent the stress

was literally paralyzing at times like it wasn't like I was focused on putting the work in I was focused on the fact that I had failed in fact it didn't matter how much effort I put in if the result wasn't there I just felt like wasn't good enough because I felt like I was chasing something that I couldn't fully control it wasn't until I had the realization the entire reason for this is I was focused on the wrong thing I couldn't control the outcomes what I could control were the actions or the inputs that led

to those outcomes I said okay instead of obsessing over whether I hit a sales quota instead I started asking myself what are the specific actions I can do every day to increase the chances that I hit the sales quota instead of stressing over how many clients I sign up I focused on how many phone calls could I make how many businesses could I go knock on their doors and how well could I refine my sales process on the fitness side instead of worrying about the scale in the gym and how much I wait every day

I focused on am I hitting my macros am I getting my workouts in that shift changed everything because suddenly I felt like I was more in control I wasn't at the mercy of external results I was measuring my success by whether I followed through with my commitments and so success became if I took the actions under my control over time those consistent inputs compounded and then the results started to show up if you repeat successful actions success becomes inevitable because it was sustainable I kept those goals and eventually I hit them and then I exceeded

them and that's when it clicked for me I was focused on something that was disempowering me when I needed to be focused on something that was empowering me focusing on outputs is like standing in a garden staring at the flowers and willing them to grow when if you focus on inputs it's watering the soil pulling the weeds making sure they get sunlight the flowers grow because you did the work not because you wished for them to be there now why does this matter what I hope you got from that story is that focusing on controlling

inputs rather than outcomes reduces anxiety about the goal because the goal is to hit the inputs not to get the outputs if your goal is to lose weight focusing on the scale can be discouraging because you can't control if the scale changes but you can control what you eat another example is if you put a ton of effort into a relationship and you're like I'm going to be the best girlfriend that I can be and then you find out your boyfriend cheated on you you know you didn't get the result you wanted do you say

that you were a bad girlfriend or do you say like that was outside of my control most of you watching this the reason you haven't hit your goals is because you've sent your entire life focused on the goal and when you focus on the goal every day you don't hit the goal you feel worse about yourself so how do we focus on inputs one Define actionable steps okay here's an example instead of saying I'm going to get fit commit to walking 10,000 steps a day or going to the gym three times a week and so

we're going to Define what are the actionable steps that we can take that are under our control I cannot control if my body loses a pound today but I can control if I walk 10,000 steps if I hit the gym and if I eat these macros now the next piece of that is that we want to track our inputs an example of that is like using a habit tracker or a checklist basically something that can monitor your daily tasks something easy that I used when I was losing 100 lb is I use my fitness pal

I just tracked in there every day what I ate not to mention that but I also used my phone to track how many steps I took the third piece is we want to detach from immediate results an example of this if you invest a set amount into savings each month you will grow wealth over the years even if growth seems slow at first but here's the thing if you invest in something and you're like why am I not getting money tomorrow if you're too attach to the results that's it's like you feel like you're failing

and so we need to detach from the results and instead we focus on the inputs and we know the outputs will eventually get there it's just like investing when you invest your money into something you might not get return for a year or 2 years but we know no amount of like wishing it would go faster is going to get it there you just got to let time do its thing the same goes for anything that you're setting for yourself as a goal and then the last step is reflect and adjust okay so for example

if you say my inputs are I study 3 hours a day but you're still struggling with the thing that you're studying then maybe we want to adjust what our input is another example I'm walking 10,000 steps a day I'm eating 1,500 calories a day and it's been 2 weeks and I haven't lost weight should I swim instead of walk should I add some cardio so basically what I'm doing is I'm reflecting on the results that I've gotten and then I'm just saying objectively should I change my inputs to see if this result can be achieved

the main point of focusing on inputs not outputs is so that you reduce the anxiety you detach from the results and you don't get discouraged and quit the reason most people don't hit their goals is because they quit and they quit because they're so attached to the outcome the reason that focusing on inputs helps is because it allows you to stay in the game because you're seeing that you're getting these tiny little wins on a daily basis and that feels good and so then what happens is you fall in love with the process and then

eventually you hit the goal now here's some Pro tips one we want to use leading indicators not lagging indicators as inputs so we want to use actions that predict success rather than measure failure in business if your goal is to increase Revenue we want to track how many qualified prospects we're getting not how much cash we're collecting if our goal is to lose weight we want to track how many days of the week we stick to our meal plan not how many days of the week we've lost weight the second Pro tip is that we

want to automate inputs like I said I used my fitness palet and I used my phone to track my steps I didn't have to think about my phone as long as I kept it in my pocket that was going to track my steps for me for my fitness pal it save all my most frequently eaten meals so that the moment that I ate something I could just swipe and it would add it to my diary and so as much as we can we want to figure out how can we automate something your future self is

built by today's actions not today's ideas when you focus on inputs you get really clear on what it takes and then that Clarity creates confidence and that confidence creates consistency so now that you have detached success from the outcome let's focus on the method that actually allows you to achieve your goals step two is what I call the A4 method this is really a method that brings awareness to what you do the A4 method integrates four pillars into cohesive strategy based on self-awareness for achieving goals I remember there was a night I was sitting at

my desk and I was staring at my assana dashboard which is a project management tool that I use to organize all my stuff and I was so overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks demanding my attention it was late and again one of my friends had called me and she' asked me could I go to dinner and meet this person and I was like I can't because I'm just too busy and then my phone buzzed and it was another message it was in a department head asking for approval on something that I thought they'd already

handled themselves and I remember in that moment I felt so frustrated and it hit me I was solving everyone else's problems instead of focusing on the bigger picture they were afraid to make decisions on their own they weren't failing I was because I had unknowingly created a culture where my need for control role had become a bottleneck for my entire team and I realized that my team's dependency wasn't their fault it was mine so what I did is I decided to track my behaviors for the next 2 weeks how often did I step in how

often did I make decisions how often did I delegate it was obviously uncomfortable to admit but becoming aware that I was the problem and what the problem was was the first step towards fixing it because if I wanted to lead a team of empowered leaders I had to start with myself first which brings me to the first piece of step two which is awareness awareness is about recognizing and understanding your current behaviors habits and patterns okay this is the foundation for change because you cannot fix what you do not notice how do we figure out

how we're getting in our own way first is we want to track our actions and the results so that we can gather data about ourselves basically we want to identify triggers identify habits and identify routines that either support us or hinder us from our goals so for example if your goal is that you want to lose weight we would start by monitoring our food intake monitoring when we work out monitoring all these things without judgment so basically what you do is you want to become an observer of yourself rather than the one going through the

motions what I had to do to become aware was to detach from my own self in the moment to get above myself to say what am I doing that's preventing me from hitting my goals what habits what routines and then I wrote all those things down so it's almost like putting together an awareness diary the the thing is is that most of the time we're so critical of ourselves that it's painful to observe ourselves in that way but it can either be painful observing yourself or it can be painful remaining stuck only one of them

moves you forward the second piece of the framework is affiliations this is really your social environment how do you apply this concept is you want to align yourself with people who are supportive people who are ambitious people who share or encourage your goals and then you want to distance yourself from people who might undermine your efforts for example when I was first losing 100 lb I was in a house with five other people who did not support my efforts they made fun of the fact that I was cooking healthy food they made fun of the

fact that I was trying to lose weight they tried to diminish my self-esteem not help me so what did I do I moved out of the house I didn't try to change them I didn't try to have conversations with them I didn't try to get them to see it my way they don't have the same values as me and so the question you have to ask yourself is do you have people or do you have environments that make it harder to hit your goals not easier the third a is aptitude this is about acquiring the

skills knowledge and abilities necessary to overcome challenges and solve problems effectively okay we want to invest time in learning and developing tools that we need to succeed and then practicing new skills consistently to increase our competence for example if you're working on public speaking and your goal is that you want to be a public speaker you're going to take a class you're going to practice regularly and then you're going to seek feedback to improve your Technique most people really want to hit their goals but really wanting to hit your goals doesn't equate to hitting your

goals you have to have aptitude AKA skills and so what we're identifying here is what skills do we need to accomplish our goals if I'm trying to lose weight but I noticed that I'm constantly overeating I lack the skill of discipline I lack the skill of being able to control myself from overeating in certain situations and so the skill deficit is that I have to learn how to have self-discipline in those situations this can apply to any goal that you're trying to hit and I want you to think about it like this it's not that

you need to want it more it's that you need more skills and now the fourth a in the framework is autonomy means that you take ownership of your choices and actions it's about cultivating selfreliance and a sense of accountability with yourself so how do we apply this we're going to make decisions based on our values and goals rather than relying on external validation and Direction understand that While others can guide or support you only you can take the necessary actions only you are responsible for your inputs and only you are with yourself at the end

of the day every day and so make sure that you're the one picking your goals if you spend all this effort and you apply this framework to achieve goals that are not your own you will feel just as bad as you do now when we switch from output focused goals to input focused goals we take ownership over the input goals so when I talk about autonomy me means that you are in control of these things and if you're not able to accomplish those inputs it's because either you have unrealistic expectations or you don't have a

skill if you're like you know what my inputs are that I'm going to work out every day for 2 hours well 2 hours is a long time plus you got to drive to the gym you got to have an outfit for the gym you're going to be at the gym is that realistic on the other side you set an input goal and you're like I'm going to get to the gym every day at 6:00 a.m. no matter what but then you real realize that on the days you're tired you keep hitting snooze that is on

you and nobody else and there's also nothing wrong with it it just means you have a skill deficit which means you go back to aptitude now we've got to go ahead and change it we don't need to blame anybody we don't need to say it's too hard we don't need to make excuses that our life is different and special but here's the thing we're not and so that's why autonomy is so important paired with aptitude so here are some Pro tips first off we want to start with facts not feelings what and when you do

things that interfere with your goals is more important than why the fact that people made fun of you when you were a kid for being chubby it's not that it doesn't matter it's that you don't need to figure out why to change what for example when I was trying to lose weight my entire childhood people told me I was fat and that they would make fun of me oh you're going to break that if you sit on it but me when I was 19 seeking to lose 100 lb who had capability who had the ability

to acquire skills and who was able to make their own decisions as a functioning adult in society and so I said it doesn't matter why why I became overweight or what people said to me in the past all that matters is that I start with the facts which is I'm overweight I'm eating too much I'm not exercising enough no matter what happened to me in the past that made me the way I am me exercising more and eating less would result in what I wanted it doesn't matter how I got there all that matters is

what I do today I love focusing on inputs because we're focusing on things that we can control and that happen in the present and the future we're not thinking about the past and things that we can't control I can't control the that somebody made fun of me when I was a kid I can change what I do today to then make a better future the second Pro tip is that we want to make tiny tweaks okay rather than trying to become a competitive athlete tomorrow focus on making tiny changes that over 1 to three years

will build you into the person you wish to be when I first set off to lose 100b I did not say I wanted to lose 100 lb I said I would like to lose 30 lb and then when I lost 30 I said what about another 30 and I lost that 30 I said what about another 25 and then I lost five I said you know what would be cool is to compete in a bikini competition I just made tiny tweaks over time and those tiny tweaks add up you have to be able to delay

the reward long enough to see them through if I could sum up this entire method of setting goals and achieving your goals in one single sentence it would be this success is not a singular act but a process it is not one thing you do it is a thousand little things you do that add up so here's what I would ask you to reflect on what is it that you've been trying to achieve and if a goal comes to mind then I want you to apply this framework and I want you to go from focusing

on the goal to focusing on the inputs I promise you if you focus on that for the new year you will have a 10 times more likely chance of hitting your goals than if you focus on the goal itself